Policies Concerning Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the copying of ideas, text, data and other creative work (e.g. tables, figures and graphs) and presenting it as original research without proper citation. Related to issue of plagiarism is the need for authors to obtain permission to reuse previously published work (even if properly cited) from the holder of the copyright (which is typically not the author).
It is essential that editors and reviewers be told by the authors when any portion of a paper is based heavily on previous work, even if this work has been written by one or more of the authors of the paper. It is the responsibility of the author not only to cite the previous work, including their own, but also to provide an indication of the extent to which a paper depends on this work.
Authors should avoid submitting a paper for journal publication including text that is copied (or otherwise duplicated) from another source without appropriate credit. Papers containing plagiarism will be barred from publication and will be reported to the proper authorities.
Equally dangerous and inacceptable, is the unintentional electronic copying and pasting of text without appropriate credit. Being found guilty of intentional plagiarism can negate a lifetime of achievements and needs to be taken very seriously. The Academic Organization for Advancement of Strategic and International Studies recommends that authors use plagiarism detection software to ensure such errors do not occur.
Alleged cases of plagiarism will be reviewed and retracted as necessary.
Policies Concerning Copyright Infringement
Copyright infringement is a very serious violation, constituting a reason for an immediate rejection of a paper or other material submitted for publication. Authors submitting manuscripts for publication warrant that the work is not an infringement of any existing copyright and will indemnify the publisher against any breach of such warranty. For ease of dissemination and to ensure proper policing of use, manuscripts and other contributions become the legal copyright of the publisher unless otherwise agreed in writing.